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Private Screenings
The GAMES Guide to Home Video Games
By Phil Wiswell
(GAMES magazine, December 1982)

On any given night, it is conceivable that more TV sets are tuned to Pac-Man than to Dan Rather. Despite the fuss from some fronts, video games are here to stay. After all, how can a game of gin rummy compete with saving the earth from an alien attack?

Though equally turned on to arcade and home video games, we find some distinct advantages to the latter. You can play them in a comfortable chair within raiding distance of the fridge; you needn't lose gracefully; and you don't need quarters. And this year the claim that home video games bring the arcade into your living room, without the jostling crowds, finally carries the ring-blip-zap-blam of truth.

No wonder choosing from among the seven major video systems and the proliferating number of cartridges (a year ago the Atari VCS had 50 games; now it has 100) is as difficult as fending off a flock of electronic space demons. Fortunately, there are those hard-working, self-sacrificing few who spend nearly every waking moment playing... oops, evaluating... any video game they can get their hands on. It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it.


The Game Systems

A video game system, like a stereo, is essentially a means of "translating" encoded information into usable form. But although virtually any phonograph record can be played on any phonograph, game cartridges and cassettes are designed for use with a specific game system and cannot be used with any other (except where an adapter is available). So before choosing a system, give careful consideration to the number and quality of the games available for it. Once you choose the hardware, you've committed yourself to the software.

The seven game systems described here come in several price ranges and offer a variety of designs, capabilities, controllers, and peripherals, including expansion modules that turn some systems into home computers. Prices in parentheses range from the best discount we've seen to the manufacturer's suggested retail price.


Astrocade
($300, by Astrocade)

This is a reintroduction of the Bally Professional Arcade (1977), also known for a time as Astrovision. The console has a cassette (not cartridge) slot, reset and eject buttons, a 24-character keypad, and room to store controllers or cassettes. The machine's three sound synthesizers can generate three-part harmony in a three-octave range, and its three microprocessors produce impressive displays in 256 colors and animation that rivals that of the new ColecoVision and Atari 5200. You can create sound and visual effects with the Music Maker and Creative Crayon cassettes (the latter has a light-pen for drawing directly on the screen), and record them on tape for later replay.

The hand controllers have a trigger that needs a lighter touch and can fire faster than many competitors' action buttons, a smooth, accurate speed knob, and joysticks that function usefully as remote switches to reset or select games. On many cassettes, you can preselect the number of "lives," points, or rounds.

Although Bally produced many Astrocade games before the recent advances in game technology, graphically most of them are as good as VCS or Odyssey2 cartridges. And Astrocade's new games, like The Incredible Wizard (see review), are often better in graphics and speed of animation than Intellivision cartridges.

The machine has two built-in games-- a two-player gunfight and a boxing game for up to four-- plus a unique program that allows you to draw on the screen and a simple calculator program.

Astrocade can be expanded to a home computer in two ways. The Bally BASIC cartridge ($50) gives you 4,000 (4K) bytes of memory storage, enough for you to experiment with programming. The Z-GRASS keyboard attachment ($600) adds 32K of RAM, expandable to 64K.


Atari Video Computer System (VCS)
($130-$200, by Atari)

As one of the first game machines designed to accept interchangeable cartridges, the VCS is limited in its graphic capability and game complexity compared to what today's state-of-the-art systems can produce. (This drawback is offset somewhat by the new Supercharger, described below.) On the positive side, the VCS accepts the most extensive and varied library of game cartridges, with more than 20 companies creating games for it. And Atari's own cartridges have the added appeal of including many variations (usually different skill or speed levels). The biggest competition to the VCS is likely to be ColecoVision and Atari's own 5200, with add-on modules that accept VCS cartridges.

The console has six switches and a cartridge slot on top, with ports for two single or two paired hand controllers in the rear (where they can be difficult to insert). Two pairs of controllers make four-player action games possible. The difficulty switch for each controller (or pair of controllers) effectively doubles the skill or speed levels programmed into the cartridges, a feature unique to the VCS. Setting the switches at different skill levels often allows an adult and a child to compete on equal terms.

Unfortunately, many VCS games require controllers other than the joysticks that come with the system. Paddle controllers, driving controllers, and keyboard controllers cost $22 a pair.

The entire VCS system, game cartridges, and controllers are available from Sears as the Tele-Game System, usually at lower prices than most VCS retailers offer. The VCS and Tele-Game systems are identical in construction and operation, and all equipment and game cartridges are interchangeable.


Atari 5200
($250, by Atari)

Because the 5200 did not arrive in time for extensive play-testing, this review is based in part on prototypes tested at trade shows. The unit has a sleek, futuristic design, with "universal" hand controllers (as Atari calls them) that are works of art, combining joystick, paddle, pause button, and keypad. The joystick moves through 360 degrees, which allows very smooth and fancy maneuvering.

A new switch box automatically switches to the TV when the game is turned off-- so once the unit is connected, you never have to fool with it- again. Wonderfully, it causes neither visual nor aural static when a game cartridge is removed. Instead, the screen goes black.

Three additions are planned for 1983: a Trak-Ball controller (ideal for games like Centipede), a Voice Synthesizer module with games, and a VCS adaptor to allow VCS-compatible cartridges to be played on this system. The game cartridges for this system represent a great advance over those for the VCS. Super Breakout, which comes with the system, is a colorful, fast-moving game with five variations. The graphics and animation of the other games we've seen for the 5200 are at least equal to the best available for any system.


Colecovision
($200, by Coleco)

This is the most powerful system in its price range. It has, along with the Atari 5200, the best graphics display we've seen on a home system, rivaling that of many low-priced home computers. If we could combine ColecoVision's microprocessor, the Atari 5200's joystick, and Intellivision's controllers, we'd have a dream of a game system.

The hand controllers, which have retractable coil-cords and can be stored in the top of the machine, each consist of a 12-button keypad, fire buttons on both sides, and a joystick, the joystick knob seems awkward and less comfortable than those of the other systems, a preliminary reservation based on limited play-testing.

A built-in expansion port allows modules to be added. Module # 1 ($60) makes the unit compatible with VCS game cartridges. This does not upgrade the games, of course, but if you trade in a VCS for this newer system (plus module), you won't have to throw out your VCS cartridges. Module #2 (available soon) is a driving controller that comes with the Turbo game cartridge for $60 (see review). Module #3, expected in 1983, will convert the system into a home computer.

ColecoVision comes with a Donkey Kong cartridge, one of the hottest arcade games of the year (see review).


Intellivision
($200-$300, By Mattel Electronics)

This system delivers much better graphics than the VCS and Odyssey 2, but its speed of animation is not great, and some games feel sluggish. Intellivision games are generally high in quality, and tend to be more complex and involving than those for older systems (except Astrocade), but they often require players to digest lengthy rules before playing. Unfortunately, the games that come with the system-- Poker and Blackjack-- are slow, on action games.

The Master Component is a sleek console into which the hand controllers fit on retractable coil-cords. Each controller has an excellent 12-button keypad (a plastic overlay comes with each game to show what the keys represent), two action buttons in each side, and a 16-direction disc control instead of a joystick. Regrettably, the 16 directions are not indicated.

The unit's sound generator produces nice three-part harmonies, but the Astrocade synthesizers are better. The Intellivoice Speech Synthesis Module ($70) and four games to go with it were recently introduced. The module, which has a volume control, fits into the cartridge slot and games programmed with voice are played through it. Male and female voices introduce the games, cheer on winners, razz losers, and warn of danger when appropriate.

A long-promised Keyboard Component to convert the unit into a home computer with 16K of RAM was briefly available in some markets for $600, but Mattel has now gone back to the drawing board in hopes of developing a more competitively priced add-on.

In some cable TV markets, Intellivision owners can, for $10-$12 a month, subscribe to Play Cable and order about a dozen Mattel games by phone 24 hours a day, with a new selection every month.

The system is sold by Sears as the Sears Super Video Arcade.


Odyssey 2
($130-$200, by North American Philips Consumer Electronic Corporation)

Since its introduction in 1978, the only change in this system is that the hand controllers of current models can't be removed. This has eliminated the most common consumer problem: bent pins that make the controllers difficult or impossible to plug in.

The console consists of a 49-character keyboard and an On/Off switch. The keyboard is flat and completely sealed, protecting the microprocessor and permitting plastic overlays to be used with the new Master Strategy Series. In games like Quest for the Rings and Conquest of the World (not reviewed), you enter data by touching the appropriate symbols on a map overlay. In The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt (see review), the keyboard is used to enter stock and bond transactions.

There are no extra costs for hand controllers with Odyssey 2 because all games use only the two that come attached to the console. So three- or four-player games are out of the question. The joysticks are easier to use and more comfortable than those that come with other systems; they can move objects on the screen in eight directions, and their "click stops," like those on a camera lens, make it easy to tell where they're pointing without taking your eyes off the screen. The joystick boxes, unfortunately, are too big for a child's hand, and the fire button requires a heavy touch.

Odyssey 2 comes with a three-game cartridge that will help you get used to the hand controllers and the keyboard. Speedway and Spin Out are simple racecar games for one or two players; Crypto Logic is a two-player scrambled-word game.

An accessory Voice Module ($100) that reproduces human speech fits over the cartridge slot. Regular software plays normally when plugged into it, but only games programmed with speech capability will "speak." The unit has 200 words stored in memory, plus phonemes (phonetic sounds of human speech) that can be strung together to form more words. Neither the module nor the cartridges to be used with it were available for play-testing.


Vectrex Arcade System
($200, by GCE Corporation)

This lightweight, attractive unit closely replicates the three-dimensional vector graphics of games like Asteroids, Battlezone, and Tempest, and the built-in sound synthesizer accurately reproduces arcade sounds (but not to worry-- there's a volume control). And with a nine-inch (diagonal) monitor as part of the system, it doesn't , usurp the family TV set.

The single control console (another can be added when two- player games become available) is extremely well designed, with a 360° self-centering joystick (that slightly favors left-handed players) and four action buttons. Each cartridge comes with an overlay that goes over the screen to provide color and information about how to use the controller. The overlays work astonishingly well; it's almost impossible to tell they're being used.

The real beauty of Vectrex is its visual effects, which cannot be obtained with any other system. Although vector graphics can't portray the "cute" characters found in games like Donkey Kong, that's a small price to pay for such exciting game play.

[Not all of the games listed in the guide were available for sale from GAMES magazine, but many were.  Therefore, this is an incomplete list of all the games that were in the guide, but it gives an idea of the amount of coverage that each game gets.]

Astrocade

1. Galactic Invasion $29.95
2. Red Baron/Panzer Attack $29.95
3. The Incredible Wizard $34.95

Atari VCS

4. Atlantis $29.95
5. Berzerk $29.95
6. Circus Atari $24.95
7. Communist Mutants from Space* $14.95
8. Demon Attack $29.95
9. Donkey Kong $34.95
10. Fireball* $14.95
11. Frogger $34.95
12. Gangster Alley $29.95
13. Haunted House $24.95
14. Kaboom $22.95
15. Megamania $29.95
16. Missile Command $29.95
17. Pac-Man $34.95
18. Pitfall $29.95
19. Space Invaders $29.95
20. Stampede $22.95
21. Tennis $22.95
22. Towering Inferno $29.95
23. Trick Shot $22.95
24. Warlords $29.95

*Requires Supercharger

Colecovision

25. Cosmic Avenger $34.95
26. Turbo $74.95

Intellivision

27. Astrosmash $29.95
28. Atlantis $34.95
29. B-17 Bomber $39.95**
30. Demon Attack $34.95
31. Donkey Kong $34.95
32. Frog Bog $22.95
33. Major League Baseball $29.95
34. Micro Surgeon $39.95
35. NFL Football $29.95
36. PBA Bowling $29.95
37. PGA Golf $24.95
38. Utopia $34.95

Odyssey 2

39. Blockout/Breakdown $22.95
40 Electronic Table Soccer $19.95
41. Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt $49.95
42. Monkeyshines $32.95
43. UFO $31.95

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